Despite
another late night, we were up and out of the apartment before ten. Our plan
was to travel by U Bahn to Potsdamer Platz to find the cluster of national art
museums in the area. We were going to be done before six so we could get to the
opera without rushing. Even before we set out, I knew that again we would run
late and pass on eating rather than missing the Magic Flute.
Potsdamer
Platz is a grassy plaza ringed by roads and tall modern buildings. To call
Toronto a world class city is a joke if you are standing at an intersection
soaking up the art in the architecture. The entire area consists of tall
buildings, each one very modern, very beautiful and very different. One
building, all glass, is like a flatiron building but with a very sharp, crisp
profile instead of a rounded one. Across an alleyway, stands another building
to complement the first one. It too has sharp angles, but instead of the walls
coming to a point along the edge, there was a cluster of squared towers rising
from the centre of the building. The one structure was in harmony with the
other. The plaza formed was adorned with modern statues and the negative spaces
on ground level invited window shopping, art gazing and coffee and/or a bite to
eat. Across the street stood the Sony Centre. The buildings encircled a
flagstone patio area and above was a beautiful iron and glass canopy. Breath
taking does not even begin to describe the effect of the sections of the canopy
viewed from the gaps between the structures.
We
still hadn't found the galleries we had planned on visiting but every building
we passed was a masterpiece with elegant gathering spaces. Nor were they new.
Most of them were 40 to 60 years old, but looked more modern than the
buildings going up today in Toronto. Each building had the space to be able to
appreciate its grandeur and adorned with statues, fountains and the like.
Everything had been built with a master plan in mind so that there was harmony
in viewing the streetscape. Later we learned that a beautiful yellow structure
was the Berlin Philharmonic and the giant plaza pavied with slabs of concrete
gently climbing upward was the Kultur Forum which houses three departments of
the National Staatlliche Museum. We first visited the painting museum, a
collection of art from the past 800 years. The works themselves were
impressive, but the design of the space itself was also a work of art. The
museum for prints and drawings was housed in the same building. All of
Picasso's work was on display while the rest of the collection was closed. The
final section of this "forum" is an art library.
But
the piece de resistance was the museum's main building, designed by Mies Van
Der Rohe for the Bacardi Company in Cuba. However, history in the persona of
Fidel Castro intervened and the project was never begun. Years later, Van Der
Rohe took the same design again, modified it only somewhat and was prepared to
build it in Germany during the late 1950's. This project went bankrupt. When
Berlin was ready for a modern art museum, the plans were resurrected once more
and the project was completed in 1968. This building's approach is a steep set
of stairs similar to the approach to an Aztec temple. The building itself is
all glass supported by columns. Inside, instead of walls, there are panels
arranged at angles. The light is phenomenal. The permanent collection is in two
galleries on the lower level. Unfortunately, it was closed. The building is
undergoing a massive renovation to ensure its integrity and to add amenities
like elevators. There was, however, an interesting exhibit of four contemporary
artists on the main floor. Exhausted, we visited the cafeteria for a well-timed
snack and rest. When the complex closed we headed out to the Deutsche Opera.
Mozart's
music is a delight with a playful quality to it. Once again the orchestra was
impressive as were the voices of the leads and chorus. Without English
surtitles, it was impossible to decipher the plot. I've made up my own story
and when I have time, I will look it up to check on my comprehension. Of course
there was no time for dinner, but the snack at the gallery along with pretzels
bought outside the Opera was enough to keep us going. Both of us were too tired
to detour home via Alexander Platz, but there was a small imbiss on the same
street as the apartment that beckoned us. One more impossibly late diner dinner
followed by collapse ended our third day. We have decided to sleep in on
Sunday.
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